Homesick

I know I'm technically home now, but most of the time it really doesn't feel like it. I love the feel of the city, the fact that I can essentially have any kind of food or entertainment on any given night. Recently the b.h. And I have been making an effort to get out more and try restaurants we haven't tried, maybe get a drink somewhere different. It has been fun, and we have found some great places and revisited some if my old favorites- dive bars to bakeries. 

All of this is great, but we aren't seeing much of our friends. I don't really even see my family. I don't feel any sense of community here. I'm sure that's largely our own fault. For the first year we didn't have any money and found it difficult to get out, and once we started making money we really didn't have any time. Your money or you life, they say, and it was never more true for me than in the last three months. 

History Buff

So I'm at a client's retail store. It's the Saturday between Christmas and New Year's, and I am pouring a selection of wines, plus one type of spirits. The idea is that people are more likely to buy if they have had a chance to taste. My job is to show them the stuff, talk about attributes and origins, and, in some cases, justify the price. ("Yes, there is a difference between the ten dollar and the fifty dollar Cabernet")

So this particular day, the spirits have an interesting origin. Made in one if the country's oldest distilleries, recipe passed down for generations, same family making it in New Jersey since 1780. There are opinions expressed, questions asked, and one woman, standing in the back of a largish group of tasters, exclaims with wonder and obvious skepticism 

"There were people in New Jersey in 1780?!"